The Shred

Not only is it another snow day - It is Day 1 of Week 1 of Dr. Ian's Shred Diet!

After I saw Dr. Ian talking about it on Dr. Oz and I thought that unlike the 4-hr body diet that husband had so much success with this was something we could both do and have success with. It's all about eating real food. And the intent is to eat like this even after you complete the 6 week cycle. And the only thing I'm even a little concerned about is being able to eat all the food for each meal and snack. Example of the daily meal times:

• Meal 1 - 8:30am
• Snack 1 - 10:00 am
• Meal 2- 1130 am
• Snack 2 - 1:00pm
• Meal 3 - 3:30pm
• Meal 4 - 7:00pm
• Snack 3 - 8:30pm

And Dr. Ian recommends eating each meal even if you aren't hungry. As long as you aren't stuffing yourself. The idea is to eat "until you're no longer hungry, but don't eat until you're full". So if you can't finish meal 3 because you're getting full, it's fine. And there is so much food to choose from for each meal. Food I would normally eat but probably in larger portions less times a day. And I didn't need to shop anywhere special or do anything out of the ordinary to make the meals work for us. I just needed to get everything prepped for the week. So I have snack sized bags filled with the appropriate portions ready to be tossed into lunch bags each morning. And Soups and salads are in individual containers ready to go. Meats are prepped for dinners and we've got plenty of fresh, canned, and frozen veggies and fruits. We each weighed in this morning and according to the schedule, we will weigh in again next Monday.

This is set up as a 6 week cycle. The first week is the Prime week. This week is used to introduce our bodies and minds to a new way of eating. Learning how the meal spacing allows us to eat a lot of food each day without over eating. Dr. Ian gives a very detailed list of suggestions for your daily meals. He includes a long list of snacks but he also says you can make substitutions as long as you stick to the calorie counts. For example, rice cakes are listed. But he actually says if you want a doughnut, have a doughnut. Just don't go crazy.  And there are recipes for smoothies, soups, and shakes. And I do mean shakes - with actual ice cream! There's even snacks recommended in the later cycles that include ice cream. Real food. And you do have to do at least 30 min of cardio 5 days a week. There are certain days he recommends doing half in the morning and half in the evening but he stresses that it's most important to get it done. And he lists recommendations for cardio activities. But if you already have a weight training routine - he says keep that up - just be sure to do the cardio as well. I'll update weekly. I suppose it'll be on Mondays after my weigh in. Today I weighed in at 40 lbs above my goal weight. And currently am wearing a size 12/14 jeans depending on the brand and cut. I will focus more on the inches lost than the number on the scale because I know that the scale is not the ultimate health indicator. Being able to go longer, faster, harder is way more important than the number on the scale.

Happy Monday people!